Senioritis

“I don’t really study that much any more,”
17-year-old Jon says.

“You have homework on the table, but you find other
things to do,” agrees Oliver, 17.

“I have a really bad case of senioritis,” 18-year-old
Jessica says.

In fact, according to research from the University of Michigan,
more students than ever have senioritis. In 1983, 40% of high
school seniors said they thought their schoolwork was meaningful,
compared to just 28% today. Seventy-nine percent of high school
students say their schoolwork is boring, and even among A
students, fewer and fewer think their schoolwork will be important
later in life.

“Physics, I don’t feel like I’m ever going
to use again. And calculus, I don’t feel like I am ever,
ever going to use again,” says Jessica, who plans to
study communications in college.

The name “senioritis” sounds like a disease,
but experts say no easy cure exists.

“You really work to target that devaluation. High school
classes are important – they really lay the foundation
for college,” says Dr. Lynn Ponton, a child psychiatrist.

Dr. Ponton says that one way to keep seniors excited is to
allow them extra freedom in picking classes their last semester.
Allow them to take classes that REALLY interest them, rather
than ones that might get them ahead for college.

“So I would reduce the number of APs [advance placement
courses] in the final semester of senior year. I’d look
at arts classes, I’d look at discussion groups and I’d
shape the child in that direction,” Dr. Ponton says.

But a little senioritis is OK, she says. Students’
senior year is partly about school learning and partly about
learning how to be an adult.

“Where they’re making the separational leap,
really from our homes, from our schools, and moving out on
their own,” Dr. Ponton says.

By Suki Shergill-Connolly,
M.Ed.
CWK Network, Inc.

Procrastination, lack of motivation or just entitlement to
take it easy – these behaviors and emotions are indicative
of “senioritis.” As part of its Monitoring
the Future study, which has been surveying adolescents
on a range of topics since 1975, the University of Michigan
Institute for Social Research recently reported that high
school seniors are taking a dimmer view of the value of their
course work, compared with seniors surveyed in the 1980s and
’90s. Based on evaluations of work in several categories,
the results of the survey are surprising:

• Approximately 28% responded that schoolwork is often or
  always meaningful, compared to 40% in 1983.
• An estimated 21% said that their courses were quiet or
  very interesting, compared to 35% in 1983.

These declines, noted across the board, were largely independent
of the type of high school program – academic, vocational
or technical – in which the students were enrolled.
As a remedy, some scholars suggest that the professional community
should play a more active role in emphasizing the importance
of learning to students, as teachers are often bogged down
with administrative details or handling student-behavior problems.

Senioritis, as defined by the New York State
School Boards Association, occurs when students “slack
off” academically during their senior year of high school.
Overcoming the High School Senior
Slump, a report released jointly by the Institute for
Educational Leadership and the National Center for Public
Policy and Higher Education, cites the following reasons why
seniors typically take an academic hiatus:

• The college admissions calendar encourages students to
  excel in their sophomore and junior years but provides no
  incentive for them to study hard during their senior year.
• Almost all state assessments extend only to the 10th-grade
  level. “In effect, the education standards reform
  movement has written off the senior year, and so have colleges
  and universities,” said Michael Kirst, author of the
  report and professor of education at Stanford University.

However, some colleges may consider revoking early admission
as a result of slipping grades in the second semester of senior
year. In a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis,
the phenomenon known as senioritis describes a general abandonment
of effort and study by seniors after they have received their
letters of acceptance from the college or university of their
choice – on the mistaken assumption that they are guaranteed
a place in the entering class. Consider these statistics about
how colleges view senioritis:

• While most colleges have always reserved the right to
  revoke admissions, a growing number are exercising that
  right as more students catch senioritis, thereby wasting
  nearly a year of schooling.
• Some colleges now comb midyear and final grades in search
  of signs that students they admitted have dropped difficult
  college-prep courses or stopped participating in extracurricular
  activities.
• College officials think they see a correlation between
  slacking high school seniors and floundering first-year
  students.
• Ethical considerations also exist. Officials at Minnesota’s
  Carleton College, for example, inform such students: “We
  are concerned not only about your academic motivation but
  also about your ability to keep your word.”

To combat senioritis, parents may need to remind teens of
setting personal goals and maintaining a sense of self-motivation.
Clear communication, building self-esteem and looking toward
the future should become daily habits for the family of all
college-bound teens. Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization,
suggests the following tips for helping your teen avoid senioritis:

• Parent-child relationships are key. In addition, strong
  relationships with siblings, peers and other adults in their
  communities can influence teens’ choices and attitudes.
• Supportive relationships trump lectures that simply tell
  teens “to do” or “not to do” something
  as a strategy to enhance adolescent development.
• Teens should be treated as whole people, not just as students,
  patients or delinquents. They should also be viewed as positive
  members of their communities, not merely as problems needing
  to be solved.
• Programs should engage teens, target desired outcomes
  and be implemented well.

Child
Trends
Institute for
Educational Leadership
National Center
for Policy Analysis
National
Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
New
York State School Boards Association
University
of Michigan Institute for Social Research